Training & Support
‘Data plays a central role in the planning and organisation of SEND’ according to David Bartram and Natalie Packer (Beyond Boundaries, 2024). In addition to understanding a learner’s individual profiles of strength and challenge, embedding robust processes and systems leads to greater consistency and helps to inform decisions about resource allocation, intervention strategies and staff training needs.
Whether for those requiring additional support or students who may be gifted, we know that to effectively support personalised learning, colleagues must recognise the importance of connecting standardised assessment data with the bigger, contextual classroom picture.
Staff at St. Andrew’s Cathedral School, Sydney, recognised a disconnect in this area leading them to adopting a new assessment (CAT4) to fully understand, from different perspectives, the individual profiles of their learners. Armed with this new information, Estee Stephenson (Head of Gifted Education) explains that teachers were better able to more accurately identify strengths and challenges for every learner, helping to ensure the most appropriate provision for their needs.
A holistic understanding of every student is important in terms of determining the appropriate pathway of learning that will allow each child to thrive. Having insights of a student beyond their ability and attainment can help build the pieces of a learner’s profile puzzle, particularly for those children that might otherwise be overlooked.
Examining multiple data points through a process of ‘triangulation’ can help to avoid assumptions that might mean a learner is inadvertently missed. Michael Browning (former Head of Year 7 at Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur) describes how his schools used their data to create a baseline and to guide interventions by supporting potentially ‘fragile’ learners. This approach involves actively engaging students with their PASS data and making use of the accompanying PASS interventions to embed practical strategies that would help meet their individual needs.
Personalised provision may mean discrete adaptations for individual learners, often those with more obvious needs, but in many cases, schools can also work more efficiently to meet the needs of all learners. Melissa Saliba, Senior Speech Pathologist at Craigmore High School, Australia, leverages the power of universal (cohort or group) assessment data – helping to understand the nuance of need and to
Universal screeners, like CAT4 or PASS, are commonly used by teachers and staff to provide baseline framework and common data language that engages key stakeholders as a hypothesis of need is built and tested. Gary Aubin, reminds us however about the importance of using this data in context and having a mindfulness of the end point when you begin to engage with your data so that it meaningfully impacts decision making. In our Education: Joining the Dots podcast, he encourages us to start with the ‘why’ when exploring assessment for identification; having clarity for how and where the subsequent data will add value by being actively linked to classroom practice, intervention, staff training and alike.
There is no one right way to ‘do data’ when it comes to identification of needs, any more than there is a one size fits all response to those needs, but there are some general ways that you can build consistency for the most vital SEND system, APDR (Assess, Plan, Do, Review), without which, according to Kate Whittlesey (SEND Whole School Improvement Consultant, UK), the quality of education for learners with SEND cannot be secured (Beyond Boundaries 2024). We have touched upon a few within this blog but there are lots of other practitioners who have shared their wisdom from which you can learn. Here are just a few:
Supporting learners with SEND at transition: Supporting children with SEND at transition - GL Education
Supporting Maths Anxiety and Dyscalculia in the classroom: Maths Anxiety, Dyscalculia and the Classroom - GL Education
Strategically supporting SEND and inclusion across multiple schools: Empowering SEND strategy and support: Using self-evaluation and data to drive and improve provision - GL Education
A discussion on inclusion and leadership: Intentional SEND Leadership – a UK and international perspective
Finally, watch the recordings of our monthly SEND Searchlights webinars during which three colleagues, with over 20 years of combined SEND professional experience, and expert guests address questions related to all things SEND.
